Lana's Spirit
Breast cancer can rob its victims of their strength and health, but one group of seamstresses won't let it take their dignity as well.
Roxanne Yoho of Middle Lancaster, a nurse at Primary Care Associates, 408 E. Jefferson St., a unit of Butler Memorial Hospital, has started Lana's Spirit, a group of women who create “dignity robes” for breast cancer patients at the Butler Regional Cancer Center at Benbrook Medical Center in Butler.
Yoho said the group is named after Lana Nolan, a fellow nurse at Primary Care Associates,
“She was a breast cancer victim,” said Yoho. “She fought it a long time, approximately eight years. We were friends.”
Yoho said Nolan died in February 2011.
Then in October 2011, Yoho's mother, June Anderson of Butler, was diagnosed with breast cancer.
“She did not like wearing the hospital gown,” Yoho said. “When I took her for treatment, I met several other women who did not like the gowns.
“They are basic hospital gowns with ties,” said Yoho. “They just don't feel that they are covered up properly.”
Yoho said years ago at Allegheny General Hospital she had made gowns that covered patients better. She got patterns from Jessi McCloskey, chief radiation therapist and manager of radiation oncology at the Sharon Regional Cancer Center in Hermitage.
“I started the dignity robe project for our own female patients,” said McCloskey. “A lot of people have called me and there's been a lot of interest. I've sent out a lot of patterns.”
McCloskey said picking the pattern or color of a robe seems to give cancer patients a sense of control when so much has been taken away from them.
In November, Yoho wound up making three of the dignity robes: one for her mother and two for a pair of her mother's co-patients.
“Then I thought this is something I would really like to do. It would mean something to Mom, in honor of my friend,” said Yoho. “This is my way of making sure Lana is still around.”
She talked with nurses, supervisors and Dr. Judith Figura at the cancer center while she was there accompanying her mother for her mother's treatments. Yoho promised breast cancer patients there they would have robes like her mother's.“This is really a spirit-raising issue for the women,” said Dr. Figura, the center's director. “It's a smock top instead of a hospital gown.”Dr. Figura said Yoho “just took the idea and ran with it.”However, that promise would have to be postponed when Yoho underwent wrist and elbow surgery in November.After she recovered, she started looking for volunteer sewers and people to donate materials and money.And she found them.“I just delivered 40 gowns to the center May 3,” she said. And she will have another 40 ready to go to the center shortly.“These gowns, first of all, are made out of cotton or flannel material. They're colorful. They're pretty. They have prints,” Yoho said. “What's different about these gowns, they're sewn with Velcro down the front and side seams.”The Velcro seams make for easier access during breast cancer treatment, and the gowns are a better grade of material than your typical hospital gown, she said.Also, with a dignity robe, Yoho said, patients don't have to change clothes. “They can put it on at home, go to the treatment center, then leave,” she said.She said since the first of the year, the group has made about 75 gowns.The gowns are the patients to keep she said.Yoho said they can keep them in remembrance of their cancer fight, although she's heard of patients burning theirs in celebration or giving them to other patients.Yoho said she has roughly a dozen sewers working on the patterns in small, medium, large, extra-large and 2XL sizes.Depending on a sewer's experience and free time, a gown can be stitched together either in a day or a weekend.Some volunteers in Lana's Spirit can't sew, so they volunteer to cut the patterns into material, Yoho said.She said material for the robes is either donated or paid for by donations.“My biggest expense on these gowns is Velcro. I buy it in bulk online. Fifty yards can make 30 to 35 gowns, depending on the size,” said Yoho. She said doctors at the clinic paid for the last Velcro purchase.Right now, the sewers are completing another 26 robes with another dozen or so in various stages of completion.“I plan on carrying on, depending on how many gowns we need. We may have to stop for awhile until Benbrook says we need some more. Let's hope so,” said Yoho.“Let's hope there aren't 80 women out there with breast cancer,” said Yoho.Her mother is doing fine, finished with surgery and radiation treatment.Judy Smith, the nursing supervisor at Primary Care Associates, said her quilting group of roughly 20 women at St. John's United Church of Christ in Evans City made 40 robes.“Roxanne came down one night and gave us the patterns. Some of the women are retirees, they made four or five,” said Smith. “I'm not as proficient as some of them. I imagine they can make one in three hours.”“I'm still looking for women's groups or church groups to participate,” Yoho said.“It's very hard to find women who sew anymore,” she said. “It's not a hard pattern.”People looking to help sew gowns should contact here at ryoho@zoominternet.net.
Patterns for the dignity robes come from the Love and Hope Foundation set up by Arlene Segar of Monroeville.Segar said she got the idea for the robes after a friend of hers passed away in December 2005 after three bouts with breast cancer.“I felt compelled to do these robes to give women a little more dignity,” said Segar.The robes were designed to provide easier access for radiation treatments, she said, and can be worn at home after treatment when affected areas can be painful.While the primary goal is to provide cancer patients with coverage, Segar said, “technicians love the robe because it makes their job easier.”Since April 2006, she said, she has sent out hundreds of patterns to groups wanting to make the robes.Those seeking information or wanting to make a donation can contact Love and Hope Foundation, 1361 Foxwood Drive, Monroeville, PA 15146 or visit absegarpaaol.com.
